News:

The Book of the Diner is well worth preserving. I only wish it had reached a broader audience when it might have mattered more. That is a testament to the blindness of our culture. If there is a future to look back from, one difficult question historians will have to ask is how we let this happen, when so many saw it coming. This site has certainly aggregated enough information and critical thinking to prove that.[/b]

The climate crisis is turning average law-abiding people into raging law-breaking eco rebels, by boatloads. Extinction Rebellion (ER) is at the forefront, demanding that governments declare climate emergencies and take urgent action.

In that regard, ER, which started in the UK, says government must reduce carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2025, or else! Social chaos will spring loose from within the darkened shadows of a raging climate, bringing civilized society to its knees and within current lifetimes. For proof, read the science, which says it all. We’re doomed without taking action to cut greenhouse emissions to Net Zero.

In that regard, in November 2018 ER activist extraordinaire Jenny Shearer super glued herself to a railing outside the glorious golden-trimmed gates of Buckingham Palace in expectation that: “This will get the Royal family to come and join us.” Meanwhile, another 2,000 ER activists brought a coffin, which symbolized a “sure-fire death sentence” facing the “next generation” vestiges of the present-day crisis.

For ER warriors, the climate crisis is like a freight train with failing breaks barreling down a mountainside headed for a massive wipeout of society. Regrettably, it’ll happen way too soon to take comfort today.

This coming October 31st marks the one-year anniversary of ER from beginnings on Parliament Square on October 31st 2018 when the ER leaders announced a Declaration of Rebellion against the UK government, expecting a couple hundred people to attend. Surprisingly, 1,500 showed up to exercise their right to peaceful civil disobedience whilst breaking the law and getting arrested.

Shortly thereafter, 6,000 ER activists peacefully blocked five major bridges across the River Thames. They planted trees in the middle of Parliament Square, and dug a hole for a coffin. Additionally, they lie down in streets or at entryways to public buildings, bringing parts of London and other UK cities to a standstill.

Roger Hallam, an organic farmer and Ph.D. candidate at Oxford University and Co-Founder of Extinction Rebellion, was recently interview on BBC’s Hard Talk hosted by Stephen Sackur d/d August 2019.

When asked why ER?

Hallam responded: “Millions of people around the world have realized, or have come to the point where something drastic has to happen… And, um… nothing is happening, and that means you have to start breaking the law in order to make change happen.”

According to Hallam, people are waking up to the fact that governments have been lying about the issue of global warming for the past 30 years and experts have been lying about the consequences, fudging the data or low-balling. Over the years, elites and governments have said carbon emissions would go down, but they haven’t; they’ve gone up 60% since 1990, and they’re still going up. This was supposed to be the decade when all sorts of positive stuff would happen, but it’s not happening.

“As a result, people are very angry. People are in a rage. People don’t want their kids to die. There are no words to describe how serious it is.”

According to Hallam, other organized groups, like Greenpeace, have “fundamentally failed” to alter the climate crisis. Across the board, everybody has failed.

“The fact of the matter is we are facing mass starvation within the next 10 years, social collapse, and the possible extinction of humans. It couldn’t be worse. This situation has come about after 30 years of failure, failure by the elites, failure by the governments, and failure by campaigners.” (Hallam)

As a result, the table has been set for a powerful aggressive hands-on approach to resolving the crisis, and ER is the most successful climate change movement in the UK. In the first year, 100,000 people signed up. As such, ER has changed the conversation in the UK because it is “dedicated to telling the truth,” and the truth is governments and elites have been lying to people for 30 years.

The truth is all about hard physics… the science is real, meaning: “We face social collapse as and when weather systems around the world collapse because of rampant climate change.”

As Hallam describes it, if there is no fundamental change in the structure of the global economy in the next ten years, then we’re headed for global catastrophe, and for certain mass social collapse with concomitant mass starvation.

BBC’s Sackur challenged ER’s ability to gain public support for its radicalized programs by utilizing a negative approach. In response, Hallam explained how before 1,200 arrests of ER eco radicals in the streets of London in April of this year in the biggest civil disobedience demonstration in British history, the British public didn’t have any opinion on climate emergency. Afterwards, 67% of the British public agreed there is an emergency. That is a remarkable achievement and enormously telling of hidden awareness by the general public.

Not only, but according to Hallam, the capitalistic system is in the process of destroying itself because it is destroying the climate. Increasingly, people in the streets are aware of this. Thus, socialism is no longer irreverent, as it gains credibility because the capitalist state of affairs ignores the crisis, and in fact feeds into it, which the general public understands much better than realized.

In celebration of a year’s resounding success, this coming October 2019 there will be thousands of people in massive civil disturbances in the streets of London, nonviolent, respectful, but disruptive. That’s ER’s methodology, and it works, as it additionally spreads to America and the world.

According to Hallam, unless governments and elites undertake immediate action, the trajectory for the planet is the death of six billion people this century.

Still, ER has experienced defections. Simon McKibbin, a lecturer at Cambridge University, left ER because of Hallam’s plan to shut down Heathrow Airport with drones. McKibben said: Flying drones into busy airspace is a departure from nonviolence. It threatens people and creates the potential of losing the good will of the public.

However, Hallam, who said he is not yet committed to using drones at Heathrow, is resolute, stating that if nonviolence does not work, then the next hurdle for society is bound to be the desperation of violence, which ER avoids. He says it is inevitable that ER will win the hearts and minds of the public as they awaken to the fact that their governments have failed them in this crucial life and death struggle.

After all, climate change/global warming is one of the most recognizable things in human history, but maybe that’s part of the problem, as familiarity nurtures solace. Which is one more reason why Extinction Rebellion is so important in rescuing civilization from falling into the surrealism pit of a very strange rabbit hole.

More shut downs planned for October 7 in LA, Chicago, NY, and major cities across the world.

A coalition of 17 climate and social justice groups shut down entry points to downtown Washington, DC yesterday, blockading key thoroughfares and intersections at a dozen points around the city for several hours during the morning rush hour. The event, Shut Down DC, followed Friday’s global Youth Climate Strike in a week dedicated to climate action across the world.

The long-term aim of the protest was to keep public attention focused on the ongoing climate emergency, and keep up the pressure for urgent political action to address it.

The immediate aim of the DC mobilization was to bring the nation’s capital to a standstill while Greta Thunberg and other youth climate leaders spoke at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City. (Thunberg’s emotionally charged speech at the summit — “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words” — has since gone viral.) The longer-term aim was to keep public attention focused on the ongoing climate emergency, and keep up the pressure for urgent political action to address it.

“We’re going to increase the profile of the climate issue by catapulting our way into the consciousness of people who otherwise would just be going about their daily lives as if the planet wasn’t on fire,” Russell Gray, co-founder of the DC chapter of the international climate action group Extinction Rebellion or XR DC, told Earth Island Journal prior to Monday’s action.

XR DC’s main contribution to the shut down was a pink and yellow sailboat, which was towed in on a trailer and unhitched at the intersection of 16th and K streets at about 7:30 a.m. On each side of the trailer, protesters attached themselves, either with chains and cables or with metal tubes welded to the trailer. The tubes allowed them to lock their arms inside, hindering removal efforts, though a team of police technicians arrived quickly with a portable generator and angle grinders to cut through the tubes.

Aware of the planned disruption, police were present in the area before the blockade was put in place. They cordoned off the blocked intersection and rerouted vehicular traffic away from the area, though pedestrian traffic was unaffected.

A handful of protesters came in costume, which lent an air of pageantry, and the general mood of the morning was energetic but not angry, as many chanted climate action slogans. Some police officers joked with protesters and seemed relaxed in dealing with the blockade, even while working to detach protesters from the boat.

Onlookers’ reactions ranged from open support to mild bemusement, but few seemed openly hostile to those protesting.

XR DC’s main contribution to the shut down was a pink and yellow sailboat, which was towed in on a trailer and unhitched at the intersection of 16th and K streets.

Dan, a father and data analyst at a local media company, who didn’t give his last name, was impressed. “I think it’s great, I support it,” he said of XR’s efforts. “I question whether it will have much impact, but I’m happy to see it happen.” Matt DiLoretto, another commuter on his way to work, was less impressed. “I don’t think it’ll change much. I don’t know how effective this is,” he said. But DiLoretto admitted that he believed climate change was real and thought the environment should be a top priority.

A common theme among protesters, who included activists from diverse groups like Black Lives Matter, Code Pink, Rising Tide North America, and Friends of the Earth Action, and onlookers alike, perhaps brought to the fore by the youth climate strikes, was a deep concern for the prospects of today’s children and future generations.

Sarah, a 22-year-old XR activist who was one of the first to be dislodged by police from the boat, mentioned her motivation to protest. “I’m terrified of the world we’ve created for my niece and nephew.” She was one of 17 XR protesters to be arrested for gluing themselves to a tunnel in the Capitol building in July, though yesterday she was not arrested.

Many protesters had planned for the possibility of arrest. Some wore bracelets or wrote numbers in permanent marker on their arms to expedite their processing through the legal system. Bob Gardener, of Sterling, Virginia, planned for a potential trip to jail, which wouldn’t have been his first. “In 2011, I was arrested at 350.org sit-ins several times,” he remarked.

By 10 a.m. cops had removed the last of the protesters from the boat and towed it away, choosing to make no arrests. At least 26 arrests were made at other locations during the shut down, though all protesters were released by early afternoon.

While the shut down involved a range of local groups, the tactics of blockading and disrupting were clearly influenced by Extinction Rebellion UK (XR UK), as was the use of the whimsically painted boat to block traffic. XR UK rose to international prominence in April 2019, when protesters caused major disruptions around London for nearly a week. Over 1,000 people involved with XR UK were arrested at the time but the series of actions and protests ultimately led the British government to formally declare a climate emergency, which was one of the group’s key demands.

“A key part of our messaging is that if you’re angry that your commute is being disrupted, don’t be angry at us. We didn’t just choose to come out here to mess with your commute — we’re here because there’s oil companies that are destroying the planet and we don’t have a choice. So direct your anger towards them instead of us,” Gray said. “Even though disrupting people’s lives for one day is not ideal, the disruption we’re going to cause is peanuts compared to the disruption of extreme weather, sea level rise, food system failure — all this scary stuff,” he added.

Like the youth climate strikes, XR is an international movement representing a wide array of people who, in the face of political and social apathy surrounding climate change, have felt morally compelled to act.

“I think there’s something about the way that Extinction Rebellion talks about the climate crisis that...it feels like one of the only groups out there that reflects the scale of the problem,” said Ellen McSweeney, a social worker and core organizer with XR DC, prior to the day’s event. “At a certain point when things are this bad, it’s not about who you vote for, it’s not about petitions — I’m not saying that none of that matters, but it just feels like there has to be a response that reflects how serious the situation is.”

While some involved with XR do have a history of climate activism and have joined forces with or been absorbed by the group, many like McSweeney have only recently dedicated themselves to direct action on the climate emergency. “Because we are in this insane situation, we feel that we don’t have a whole lot of other choices besides starting to put ourselves on the line and put ourselves into the gears of this machine to try to slow it down. Business as usual will send us straight over a cliff. It’s hard to know what a reasonable response would look like to what is a totally insane and very frightening situation, frankly,” she said.

Much of the energy that has catalyzed the growth of groups like Extinction Rebellion and the youth climate movements originated with the string of dire scientific reports and assessments released last year regarding global heating and massive losses of biodiversity.

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in particular, released last October, emphasizes the urgency of global and far-reaching measures to curb greenhouse gases, which are pushing temperatures toward a critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. And the IPCC report stressed that emissions cuts must be achieved within the next 12 (now almost 11) years.

Farhana Yamin, a British lawyer and past author of several IPCC reports, last week penned an article in the journal Nature detailing her motivations for joining XR UK and gluing herself to the pavement outside Shell oil’s London office last April, leading to her arrest. Like many others involved with XR, Yamin is an otherwise law-abiding citizen who has realized the necessity of nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to force government and civic engagement with the climate emergency, even if it means breaking the law.

“Having spent three decades failing to get governments to pay attention to the climate crisis through advocacy at the highest levels, I felt that activism was now crucial. I wanted to show how ridiculous it is that a law-abiding (indeed, law-making) mother of four should be handcuffed while the world’s major polluters remain unaccountable for ecocide,” Yamin writes.

Ultimately, XR’s success depends on its members' willingness to put their freedom on the line. And many will if it means their message will be heard, and most importantly, if it will inspire others to act.

“If Washington, DC — the center, the dark heart of the US — gets shut down, then it’s going to send a signal to the globe that people are finally making progress in the one place that people were least expecting it… that we can win if we all get in the streets,” said Gray.

The DC Shut Down was XR’s first major act of mass civil disobedience in the US, but more shut downs have been planned for October 7 in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, and in major cities throughout the world.

“I think these actions are going to make a really big splash publicly, and I think we’re probably going to have a big influx of people interested in what we’re doing. And that’s kind of the point of doing things like this, it’s kind of to show yourself to the public as a group that’s ready to act,” McSweeney said.

Officers raid building used by climate activists to store items for Westminster rally

Police have taken pre-emptive action against environmental protesters who are planning to cause disruption in Westminster.

Dozens of officers from the Metropolitan police’s territorial support group raided a building in Kennington, south London, where Extinction Rebellion activists were storing equipment to use in a demonstration next week.

Protesters had said they planned to block 12 sites in Westminster from Monday morning until their political demands were met.

Earlier this week, police had promised to be more agile and assertive in dealing with the group after their demonstrations in April shut down parts of London for more than a week.

Activists who had begun to try moving equipment from the Kennington site in vans on Saturday were arrested and their vehicles and any equipment inside were impounded.

The Metropolitan police said 10 people – seven women and three men – had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

A spokesman said: “They have been taken to a south London police station. Officers remain at the scene. Inquiries continue.”

Police used a battering ram to break into the building, the former Lambeth county court, after activists locked themselves inside.

Caroline Vincent, who works in police liaison for Extinction Rebellion, said: “Police don’t want us to move equipment out which is considered infrastructure because they think it’s going to be used to commit a crime, and the crime is blocking the highway.

“So pita and pans are considered to be equipment that will be used to commit a crime; cushions too, apparently. The only things we are allowed to move away are first aid kits, milk and fliers.”

Activists said they were concerned at the police decision to act pre-emptively against them.

Richard Ecclestone, a former police officer who has joined the group, said: “These tactics are very questionable and are arguably infringing on our rights to peaceful protest, and indeed our efforts to preserve people’s right to life that is currently being jeopardised by the government failing to act on the climate and ecological emergency that they know exists.”

The group said in a statement: “This escalation of pre-emptive tactics by the government and police is a sign that we are being heard and acknowledged as a significant movement. We ask that the government focus their attention and resources on responding to the climate and ecological emergency which threatens us all.”

Officers raid building used by climate activists to store items for Westminster rally

Police have taken pre-emptive action against environmental protesters who are planning to cause disruption in Westminster.

This is an interesting development. I wonder if the ER folks will bring suit against Da Goobermint? None of the confiscated items are illegal to possess, far as I know.

ER will need to do more distributed storage of preps and not keep a lot of stuff in a single location. They also need to encrypt their communications and not use straight Facepalm or Email for organization and planning. They also need to use Walkie-Talkies with encryption instead of cell phones during actions.

In recent days London has been targeted by the group Extinction Rebellion (XR). They are a group who believe that all life on earth is likely to be wiped out soon thanks to mankind’s pollution of the planet. As a result last week they attempted to hose Her Majesty’s Treasury in gallons of fake blood (a plan only wrecked by the group’s inability to operate a firehose). This week they are planning to shut down the capital, restricting the movements of Londoners and hoping to paralyze the city. Similar protests are planned in Australia.

There is much to say about this. But one of the most remarkable aspects of their actions is that they are perhaps inadvertently demonstrating one of the truisms of our time. G. K. Chesterton’s famous quote about people who stop believing in God believing in anything is very well known. But perhaps more apposite on this occasion is a point Deepak Lal once made to me: which is that, after the age of monotheism, we appear in the West at least to be entering an age of polytheism.

One of those polytheisms is of course the worship of Gaia. But these new polytheistic religions can be remarkably adaptive and absorbent. Consider the following footage from XR’s “opening ceremony” in London last night. At around the half hour mark one of the lead-loons calls for “eleven men and eleven women to step forward.” Pseudo-ancient though this demand might be, there must also be acts of propitiation to the new gods. And so a call goes out also for some “non-binary” people as well. Clearly there are some volunteers from this crowd, because after some interminable guff about “spiraling” and the closing of the gap between the masculine and the feminine, our eco-chieftain invites the “beautiful men and women and our non-gender specific beautiful human and non-binary human” to light thirteen “beacons of truth.” The aim being to “bring us into our wholeness, into our togetherness, into our one-ness.” There is then a pagan procession.

Whether or not XR succeed in shutting down London or any other Western cities this week, I would advocate watching this footage from around 30 mins to 34 minutes. Although it is baffling for most of us to make much sense of today, future historians will find such footage enormously helpful.

International Rebellion is here. And it’s bigger and more beautiful than we dared to imagine. This is what mass civil disobedience looks like.

It’s happening. It can’t be ignored. It’s only growing stronger.

It’s a rebellion.

We’re back on the roads – with as much joy, fear, love and courage as ever. We’re shutting down cities – not because it’s fun (though it can be), but because it’s our last option for stopping this toxic system in its tracks. Our world is dying; to save it, we’ll need everyone – wherever and whoever you are – to do your bit.

And though we’re still somewhat short of the shared, global consciousness we need, we’re getting ever closer.

This International Rebellion which began on Monday is so vast it’s almost impossible to take it all in. Thousands of people flood 60 cities across the globe, with over 700 brave rebels arrested as they stand up for their right to life, and that’s just the start.

It’s not just a question of quantity. With every season that passes, we grow more organised, more unified, more creative, more courageous.

Just look at the 11 vibrant sites held around the centre of London, the choir of Amsterdam rebels, the blood poured on the bull statue in Wall Street in New York, the ambition of our banner-hangers, the Red Brigade arriving in Tel Aviv and Istanbul, underwater protest art in Mexico, the boats of every shape and size that we are so desperately trying to keep afloat.

We’re a movement unlike any other.

This newsletter team will do everything we can to keep up and to showcase the unreal brilliance of our young movement. We can only apologise in advance for not capturing every aspect of this glorious, unfathomably complex process that is our rebellion.

We hope that wherever this reaches you – whether you’re superglued to a road, camping out in the rain, deep in spreadsheets and planning, or at home drinking your coffee – you will be touched by what is going on right now all over the world. We hope you understand that it’s for you, and for every human being alive and not yet alive.

You are not alone in this beautiful mess. And it’s not too late to join in.

f you’d like to help, please check out our guide and learn more about XR.

To connect to rebels in your local area, get in touch with your nearest XR group. If there’s no active group near you, you can start your own!

If you’d like to see previous newsletter issues, you can find them here.

As we enter this crucial phase in human history, our Rebellion will need money to make sure our message is heard. Anything you can give is appreciated.

Support the Rebellion

Global HighlightsLondon Blockades Westminster

“How we have grown” — The Red Rebel Brigade, London

Over 275 rebels have been arrested on a momentous day which marks the beginning of XR’s October Rebellion in London. Early on Monday morning, rebels from all over the country mobilised and successfully took 11 main sites around Westminster in central London, including two key bridges.

Rebels drove a hearse into the ‘Burning Earth’ site in Trafalgar Square, parked it, and locked and glued themselves to the vehicle. The ‘undertaker’ in the drivers’ seat D-locked his own neck to the steering wheel.

Footage broadcast on ITV News shows police officers desperately trying to prevent more rebels gluing themselves underneath the vehicle, as well as a deeply moving moment where a father locked onto the underside of the hearse reveals why he is taking this drastic measure. In the back of the hearse, rebels had mounted a coffin painted with the words ‘OUR FUTURE’.

Meanwhile, a tower of scaffolding was positioned in the road, which rebels climbed and glued onto. They held this for most of the day, before being lifted off in orange sacks by police officers kitted out in climbing gear. Latest videos show rebels still going strong, including those attached to and inside the hearse.

In an exciting turn of events, a rebel wedding was held in the middle of the blocked Westminster Bridge (a first for the bridge, as far as we know!) to the sound of XR cheers and a feisty brass band. Love was truly in the air.

Also seen on the bridge were yoga enthusiasts, a ceilidh with bagpipes, and, floating beneath the bridge, an XR boat headed for the Houses of Parliament. XR filled the road outside Downing Street, blockaded Westminster Bridge nearby, and a stream of tents and campers continued from there all the way to Lambeth Bridge.

Despite the efforts of peacefully protesting rebels in London today, pre-planned and persistent police confiscations have left blockades lacking infrastructure and amenities. However, officers failed to confiscate the rebel spirit, which lives on in furious love and determination.

XR France managed to block and occupy Paris’ most central and busiest intersection, near the Nôtre-Dame cathedral. Rebels, aware of the sensitivity of the site, kept the location secret until the last minute and attached themselves to flower planters to complicate police efforts to remove them.

Rebels reminiscent of the now symbolic pink boat Berta Cáceres that reigned over London’s Oxford Circus during the last international rebellion can be reassured – its blue brother has crossed the channel for this October and cast its anchor in Parisian waters.

As we are “all in the same boat”, its DJs and dancers are inviting passers-by to join this festive occupation in all of its creativity, and keep the troops energized and regenerated for a lasting rebellion.

Climate Camp Berlin

Our uprising begins. From early morning, 1000 rebels blocked the “Big Star” roundabout surrounding Berlin’s Siegessäule as well as a key junction at Potsdamer Platz. As the sun rose, peaceful rebels danced and sang.

Our ship, the Arche Rebella, has been put together once again in a new location. “Captain” Carola Rackete stated the simple truth: “The situation is more than severe: ecosystems and species are threatened by the climate catastrophe and the actions of mankind. The planet and its natural resources are our basis of life – if it is not in balance, the consequences will be catastrophic for the planet and for all of humanity.”

Berlin rebellion takes to the air!

3000 rebels held Potsdamer Platz – with the help of lots of potted plants and a Red Rebel Brigade – and the site was buzzing. Rebels continued to hold the Platz for longer than expected, with some chaining themselves together.

Even as police threatened rebels with physical violence if they failed to clear the blockade, our mood could not be beaten! We were dancing, singing and sending out a strong signal about the climate crisis.

It was early evening before police were able to begin slowly clearing rebels. Two thousand rebels remained and the good mood continued as food was shared, even as police began confiscating our equipment.

Madrid – Dia Uno

Madrid rebels had a dramatic first day of Rebellion! 300 rebels surrounded a pink boat to block a bridge and were greeted by an alarming police response that included twisting arms, pressing thumbs into rebels’ eyes and putting pressure under their jaws. 10 rebels were hospitalised and many others suffered minor injuries. There were 43 arrests that day in Madrid.

But their spirits were not broken. The rebels went onto cause further disruption and set up camp in front of Spain’s Ministry of Ecological Transition. Rebels dressed in red, blue and brown – representing forest fires, rising sea levels and desertification – stalked others dressed in animal costumes in a striking performance about mass extinction.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam rebelled against a ban imposed by the mayor and police and brought non-violent direct action to the heart of the city. In the early hours, eager rebels gathered to block off roads in front of the city’s famous museums.

In addition to beautiful paintings by Vermeer and Van Gogh, tourists viewed a modern day decor of brave earth-protectors fighting for their democracy and freedom of speech. The site then toured around the Heineken Experience to make sure any tourists there didn’t miss out.

In a miscalculated response, the police blocked off the first protest site, playing into our rebels’ hands, who staged an impromptu die-in on the Dam square instead.

The protests ended in over 100 arrests with rebels responding to police aggression by collectively chanting ‘We are peaceful, what are you?’

Four large city buses transported the arrestees away. Cries of peaceful resistance and tunes from the busses echoed far and wide through the capital’s narrow streets and over the canals.

The first reports of smiley rebels released from custody are already in! After a good night’s sleep in the newly established rebel town in front of the Rijksmusuem, Dutch rebels will bring back the action tomorrow with a gathering at the Vondelpark.

The Bull of Wall Street

Around 90 New Yorker rebels were arrested yesterday after they launched a wave of actions in the city’s famous financial district. Protesters poured fake blood over Wall Street’s iconic Bull statue, held a very bloody die-in outside the New York stock exchange, and then blocked a nearby road.

The die-in was attended by the stunning Red Brigade, and featured a New Orleans funeral band that got the hundreds of rebellious mourners dancing in the streets. Tombstones mentioning hurricanes and fires made worse by the climate crisis were held aloft, along with a coffin with the words “Our future” written on the side. Once the fun was over, rebels clean-up crews stepped in to mop the fake blood away.

Police set up a perimeter and arrested rebels in waves. Despite the high arrest count, the sunkissed rebellion base in nearby Washington Square park was buzzing. Actions will be continuing here over the coming days, and are expected to spread to Chicago and Washington DC later in the week.

A new chapter for XR Canada

XR Toronto gathered at Playter Gardens in the city’s east end for a day of October Rebellion. After an early morning debriefing, protesters took to the Bloor Viaduct with banners, signs, and megaphones, numbers bolstered by other groups and allies.

There, they cordoned off the bridge and nearby Danforth Avenue from rush hour traffic, allowing the space to play host to a multitude of activities. In addition to activist speeches and performances, the group participated in singing, meditation and yoga sessions while other protestors chalked key messages along the concrete.

Looming over the action were Extinction Rebellion banners and messages, draped across the Viaduct walls, and the organization’s iconic hourglass logo set at an impressive height.

As the morning wore on, police announced a request for dispersal, yet several rebels remained. This group sat or stood in front of large, red and yellow “Act Now” block letters while the rest of the protesters swelled to either side of Danforth Avenue with songs of peace and hope. Arrestees – all nonviolent – were eventually taken into police cars and driven off; the remaining group returned to Playter Gardens for camaraderie and regeneration.

Toronto’s action upon the Viaduct reached a wide audience of receptive hearts. Hard work is ahead but another river has undoubtedly been crossed. With actions from Halifax to Victoria, today marked a new chapter of XR’s fight for climate justice in Canada.

Aussie rebels bring the heat

The day began with a sacred ceremony on the steps of Parliament House, when rebels, still waking up, took gum leaves and received the welcome via smoke cleansing before moving back to the central campsite of Carlton Gardens.

Inside the gardens there were family events, talks, training sessions and a choir. A massive Declaration of Rebellion was made against the criminal inaction of the world’s governments on the climate and ecological emergency.

Upwards of a thousand people came together at 16:00 for a march through the CBD (Central Business District), which was successfully disrupted from 16:00 – 19:00, in a colourful, energetic, peaceful, respectful action. Some carried a glass coffin, like a fish tank, filled with aquatic plants and rocks to illustrate concern for about the impact of climate change on oceans.

Monday, Oct. 7. marks the start of what the British-based group Extinction Rebellion is calling the International Rebellion. Thousands of people will occupy the centers of some 60 cities around the globe, including Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris and New York, to stage nonviolent occupations of bridges and roads for at least a week. The goal is to paralyze commerce to force the ruling elites to respond to the climate emergency. I will be at Battery Park in New York to join them Monday morning.

The protests, which organizers say will likely lead to hundreds of arrests, will employ a variety of tactics, including activists who will superglue themselves to trains, subways and buildings as well as build temporary encampments to disrupt traffic. The New York event will open at 9:30 a.m. Monday with a “funeral march” from Battery Park. At 2 p.m. Monday, organizers will set up base in Washington Square Park and use it as a staging area. Activists will congregate at the park and fan out in groups across the city to carry out protests. The disruptions during the week in New York will occur in a variety of locations, including in the Financial District and at the New York Stock Exchange, Columbia University and major cultural institutions. In Chicago, there will be an attempt to occupy City Hall and Daley Plaza. London activists, who shut much of the city down in April for 10 days and saw 1,000 arrests, are planning to hold out for three weeks.

“It is our sacred duty to rebel in order to protect our homes, our future, and the future of all life on Earth,” Extinction Rebellion writes. This is not hyperbolic. We have, as every major climate report states, very little time left. Indeed, it may already be too late.

“People have to go to the capital city,” said Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and a researcher at King’s College London, when we spoke earlier this year. “That’s where the elite is, the business class. That’s where the pillars of the state exist. That’s the first element. Then you have to have a lot of people involved. They have to break the law. There’s no point in just doing a march. They have to literally close down the streets. They have to remain nonviolent. That’s absolutely crucial. Once you get violent, police and the state have an excuse to remove you. It’s got to be cultural. You make it into a sort of Woodstock affair. Then thousands more people come onto the streets.

“There’s a fundamental difference between breaking the law and not breaking the law. It’s a binary difference. When you break the law, then you’re massively more effective in terms of material and psychological influence as well as media interest. The more dramatic the civil disobedience, the better. It’s a numbers game. You want people blocking the streets, but you need 10, 20, 30 thousand. You don’t need 3 million. You need enough for the state to have to decide whether to use repression on a mass scale or invite you into the room. The gambit, of course, particularly in the U.K., is that the state is weak. It’s been hollowed out by neoliberalism. They’re going to find themselves overwhelmed. We will get in the room.”

The group stresses what it calls a “pre-social-media age” strategy for organizing. It has created decentralized structures to make decisions and issue demands. It sends out teams to give talks in communities. It insists that people who participate in the actions of Rebellion Extinction undergo “nonviolent direct-action” training so they will not be provoked by the police or opposition groups.

“Most of the recent mass mobilizations have been social-media-fueled,” Hallam said. “Consequently, they have been chaotic. They are extremely fast mobilizations. Social media’s a bit like heroin. It’s a high, but then it collapses, like we’ve seen. It becomes chaotic or violent. A lot of modern social movements put stuff on social media. It gets clogged up with trolls. There are lots of radical-left organizations arguing about different privileges. We’ve circumvented that and gone straight to the ‘common people,’ as you might say. We’ve held meetings in village town halls and city halls. We go around the country in a 19th-century sort of way, saying, ‘Hey guys. We’re all fucked. People are going to die if this isn’t sorted out.’ The second half of the talk is: There’s a way of dealing with this called mass civil disobedience.

“Nonviolent discipline, as the research shows, is the No. 1 criterion for maximizing the potential for success. This is not a moral observation. Violence destroys movements. The Global South has been at it for a few decades. Violence just ends up with people getting shot. It doesn’t lead anywhere. You might as well take your chances and maintain nonviolent discipline. There’s a big debate within the radical left over the attitude toward the police. This debate is a proxy for the justification of violence. As soon as you don’t talk to police, you’re more likely to provoke police violence. We try to charm the police so they’ll arrest people in a civilized way. The metropolitan police [in London] are probably one of the most civilized police forces in the world. They have a professional team of guys who go to social protests. We’ve been in regular communication with them. We say to the police, ‘Look, we’re going to be blocking the streets. We’re not going to not do that because you ask us not to.’ That’s the first thing to make clear. This is not an item for discussion. They know it’s serious. They don’t try to dissuade us. That would be silly. What they are concerned about is violence and public disorder. It’s in our interest as civil disobedience designers not to have public disorder, because it becomes chaotic.”

“You’re basically holding the economy of a city to ransom,” he said of the shutdowns. “It’s the same dynamic as a labor strike. You want to get into the room and have a negotiation. Extinction Rebellion hasn’t quite decided what that negotiation is going to be. We’ve got three demands—the government tells the truth, the carbon emissions go to zero by 2025, which is a proxy for transformation of the economy and the society, and we have a national assembly which will sort out what the British people want to do about it. The third demand [calling for a national assembly] is a proxy for transforming the political structure of the economy. It proposes a different, concrete form of democratic governance, based around sortition rather than representation. This has had a big influence in Ireland and Iceland. The optimal transition is going to be from the corrupted ‘representational’ model to a sortition model in the same way aristocratic law shifted to representational law at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 19th century.

“The intelligent people on the political left have woken up to the fact that we’ve got an existential emergency that could destroy human society in the next 10 years. It’s in the cards. A lot of us have already gone through the grief process. But these [newly awakened] people just had that enlightenment. They’re in shock. They’re maintaining a veneer of ‘It’s sort of OK.’ This is what the Green Deal [a United Kingdom government policy initiative] is about. It is an attempt to pretend that industrialization can stay the same. We can all still be wealthy. We can all still have great jobs. It is like Roosevelt’s New Deal. But the New Deal was based on the idea that we can carry on plundering nature and nothing’s going to happen. Maybe that was right in the 1930s, but it’s not right anymore. It’s a matter of physics and biology. We simply cannot maintain these levels of consumption. They haven’t reckoned with that. One of the main reasons the climate debate has not gotten into a serious mode over the last 30 years is because people who are in charge of informing the public are terrified of telling the public that they can’t have the high consumer lifestyle anymore. It’s a taboo. But like any addiction, there comes a moment of truth. We’re there now.”

“For 30 years we’ve had one political metaphysic, reform,” he said. “You either reform or you are irrelevant. But now, we have two massive, exponentially increasing structural faults—the inequality problem and the climate problem. A lot of people—because of path dependency dynamics—have worked for 30 years in this lost-cause sort of space. They’re desperate for change. For 30 years, they’ve been putting their money on reform. The tragedy—and you can see this in the history of political struggle going back hundreds of years—is there’s a flip where the reformists lose control. They’re still living in the past world. The revolutionaries, who everyone thinks are ridiculously naive, suddenly come to the fore. It’s usually a quake. It’s not a gradualist thing. It’s a double tragedy because it’s a quake and the revolutionaries usually aren’t organized. I think that’s what’s happening now. It has very big implications for [resistance against] fascism. Unless you have a clearheaded mass mobilization on the left, which is connected with the working class, you’re not going to be able to stop the fascism.”

These protests are a welcome antidote to the choreographed and ineffectual climate marches of the past in which protesters dutifully stayed in police-designated areas and dispersed after a few hours. The goal is not simply to protest but to throw a wrench into the machine. The group has 10 working principles that center on nonviolent resistance. These principles are:

We have a shared vision of change: to create a world that is fit for generations to come.

We set our mission on what is necessary, mobilizing 3.5% of the population to achieve system change – using ideas such as “momentum-driven organizing” to achieve this.

We need a regenerative culture, creating one that is healthy, resilient and adaptable.

We openly challenge ourselves and this toxic system, leaving our comfort zones to take action for change.

We value reflecting and learning; as we follow a cycle of action, reflection, learning and planning for more action, we learn from other movements and contexts as well as our own experiences.

We welcome everyone and every part of everyone, and work actively to create safer and more accessible spaces.

We actively mitigate for power, breaking down hierarchies of power for more equitable participation.

We avoid blaming and shaming; we live in a toxic system, but no one individual is to blame.

We are a nonviolent network; using nonviolent strategies and tactics is the most effective way to bring about change.

We are based on autonomy and decentralization, collectively creating the structures we need to challenge power.

Anyone who follows these core principles and values can take action in the name of Extinction Rebellion.

You can see interviews I did with Hallam, who was jailed two weeks ago by British police in preemptive effort to curtail the rebellion here, here and here.

The longer we live in denial, the worse it will get. There is no way out. Floods, droughts, monster hurricanes, cyclones, extreme heatwaves, crop failure, mass displacement and the breakdown of society are now inevitable. This is our future. The democratic methods for change—voting, lobbying, petitions, education and protests—have proved to be spectacular failures. The corporate forces that have seized control of our political and economic systems will, unchecked, drive us into extinction for profit. All we have left is nonviolent, disruptive civil disobedience. A rebellion. And if we fail, we will at least obliterate our despair, find solace in a community of resisters and restore our emotional health and our dignity by fighting back against those who are engineering the ecocide.Chris HedgesColumnist

As has been widely reported, Extinction Rebellion (ER) began their “International Rebellion” this week. This has seen activists concerned about the threat of climate change, engage in civil disobedience. In the United Kingdom where the movement was born, London has been hit by waves of protests that, at times, has brought the capital to a standstill. However, since the the environmental group’s last set of protests in the Summer, the Metropolitan Police has changed their tactics significantly. They have taken a far more aggressive approach towards those protesting, and the media covering them.

Extinction Rebellion describes itself as;

“an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse.”

In other words, they will carry out acts in public that will bring disruption to others, but at no time will engage in violence.

Civil Disobedience has a long history of being used to protest against some of the greatest injustices we have faced.

Gandhi called it satyagraha, when he fought against British Colonial Rule in India. The US Civil Rights Movement used it in the 1950s and 60s when they fought for equal rights black people. More recently, it has been used in Georgia to end Soviet era government and it is a commonly used by those protesting against Nuclear Weapons.

New Police Tactics

Throughout the summer action continued to take place across the UK in cities like Glasgow, Birmingham and Belfast. Following the April “uprising”, the Metropolitan Police had begun to call for new powers to tackle people engaging in civil disobedience. Most of the protesters arrested had been done so under Public Order offences, which the Met did not see as a deterrant.

When it was announced that the group was to fly drones inside the Heathrow exclusion zone, the police began to take a more preventative approach. This saw them swoop on five members of the group in September in an attempt to stop the plan from going ahead.

The group clearly stated that all drones would be at head height and not actually near any aircraft. However, the Police were taking no chances, which is understandable given the risks involved.

Laurence Taylor, deputy assistant commissioner, said:

“We believe these arrests to be a proportionate response to preventing criminal activity that could significantly impact on a major piece of national infrastructure.

“We remain fully prepared for the planned protest tomorrow, and will work quickly to identify criminal activity and arrest anyone committing offences.”

This was one of the first time Police in the UK had used preemptive arrests against Extinction Rebellion, but not the last.

However, Dr Gail Bradbrook, a co-founder or Extinction Rebellion, said:

“As we continue to breech ecological tipping points I believe we will look back on these times and wonder why more people weren’t willing to take actions to peacefully close down climate wrecking infrastructure. “

Preemptive Action

That takes us to the present day. The International Rebellion has started, and it has seen mass action across the globe. Protesters have been arrested in Sydney, Australia for blocking roads, New York has seen transport infrastructure shut down, and in London, bridges, government buildings and an airport have all been targeted.

Before the “rebellion had even got started the Metropolitan Police carried out a raid on a site used by ER to store equipment for the upcoming action.

Seven activists were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and an eighth on suspicion of obstructing police, all of whom have now been released under investigation. Police reportedly also confiscated a wide range of camping-related equipment, food and small solar panels.

Two more activists, a man and woman, were also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance the following day.

What shocked some people was the way in which the raid was carried out. The group state that they liaise with the Police and senior Met officers have stated that the group are non-violent. Some commentators questioned whether the use of a battering ram to gain entry was really necessary. Many thought that it was a PR move to give the impression they’re getting tough.

Either way, it raised questions about the right to protest if preemptive action was being taken to remove items like wheelchairs, lamps and food.

“The pre-emptive arrests in this case go beyond what is strictly necessary to prevent disorder, and fail to balance the individual’s vital democratic right to protest through free association and free expression. This is due to the use of a conspiracy based offence being highly problematic, as is the use of public nuisance.”

He further argued that these arrests breached the right to protest as protected by the Convention of Human Rights within Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (freedom of association).

A Worrying Trend

These protests have brought up several issues of concern. Firstly, the Police’s ability to make preemptive arrests before peaceful protests and secondly, the press’ freedom to report on events the government find embarrassing or annoying.

The right to Peaceful protest is something liberal societies are founded on. Now we have the state wanting to tighten the rules on protests, only go where they say and arrest you for having some camping gear.

On the other side. journalists are being threatened with arrest for covering important protests, or in some cases, denied access to the protests at all. This mirrors the Police denying some accredited journalists entry to Party Conferences because they attended such protests.

It is a worrying state want to tighten control of peaceful protests about legitimate concerns such as climate change.